"Where'er you walk" by George Frideric Handel

From the opera Semele. After listening to John McCormicks beautiful rendition on another YT channel, and Roland Hayes, this sounds rather poor, but, I gave it the old college try.

Here's the site for the contest.
http://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/hpr/index.php?option=com_content&task=vi...

Too bad its only for residents of Hawaii.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical
• Handel
• Semele

[thirlestanelodge2]

Well done. You have a lovely tone to your voice. I am learning to sing this and know how difficult it is.

[Amiduffer]

@thirlestanelodge2 Thanks. I got to sing this with a lady at an open mic at a wine bar recently. What a difference when you actually try and re-create an opera aria in front of a crowd (albeit a small crowd).

[thirlestanelodge2]

@Amiduffer I sing in little concerts in a cafe'. The last was all Spanish, great fun , great response. I think the next could be baroque music,so I am doing this and another pot boiler. but as I am only learning, they are quite sufficient a challenge for me.They are hard . Can I ask, why did you change the word from "e're" to "ever"? The abreviated " e're" only needs the one note written by Handel, not the two of "ever". I think it also places the text in the context of its period too .

[Amiduffer]

@thirlestanelodge2 That was one of the mistakes I corrected in the other video.

[flaze3]

Amiduffer, you did a good job here! Nice vibrato, unconstricted sound and a nice sense of the music.

Of course you didn't sing it operatically, but that requires a whole different vocal approach--not just 'tweaking'. Watch Ainsley's version and see how his voice 'sits'. Opera is a bit like 'calm shouting' however awful a metaphor :-s

Opera requires a deep vocal placement, absolute legato line, open vowels, and a clear ring throughout the voice. It actually makes the aria harder to sing!

[Amiduffer]

@flaze3 I'll have to disagree somewhat. This attempt was not very good, and I should have done more work before recording it, but making video and learning how to sing require work, and you can't improve unless you try and get feedback. I actually had the luck to meet a former opera conductor for a very short time recently. In any case, check out my other attempt of this song, and see what you think. Thanks for the critique.

[thirlestanelodge2]

@Amiduffer Oh! I'm sorry, I haven't had time to look there. I'm off to see. I wish I had your pluck, to sing on here. I feel I got some where today with my small attempt.

[thirlestanelodge2]

also, it characterizes the relationship between Jupiter and Semele, as familiar.

[YaNgGuY07]

Lastly, one of the reasons why this piece is so popular is because of the ending where you repeat the first part. You get to improvise away from the baritone style of singing, in which a lot of musicians have their own input on how to end a beautiful song.

[YaNgGuY07]

Not bad for an amateur, you need lots of vocal training before attempting a piece like Where'er You Walk. Breathing distortions, no push or resonance from your vocal box. Wrong pronunciation or diction of the words, totally off key. Stand up when you sing. I can tell that you're singing from ear and that you haven't had the opportunity to actually take a look at the written music. Know the story behind Semele so you can put more emotion behind your words.